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Concerned about possible escalation of
long-seething tensions over certain isles in South China Sea, Southeast Asian
officials meeting in Brunei this week are planning to press China to agree to
begin talks to draft a new pact aimed at preventing a major military
confrontation in one of the busiest waterways in the globe.

Apprehension over North Korea’s recent
saber-rattling is also expected to compete for attention over vital economic
issues in the annual ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit
being held Wednesday and Thursday in Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei.

The 10-nation ASEAN bloc is under
time-pressure to try to develop the significantly culture-differentiated region
of 600 million people after the European Union model-community before 2016.

First conceptualized in a 2007 master plan,
the work to transform the dynamic region into a singular market-and-production
hub has reached about 77 percent completion, according to a draft declaration
to be released after the summit. No details as to what remains undone have been
given.

A copy of the joint statement obtained by The
Associated Press on Monday states the ASEAN leaders’ continuing commitment to
ensure the peaceful resolution of South China Sea conflicts within the bounds
of international law and “without
resorting to the threat or use of force.”

ASEAN stands to call for “the early adoption
of a code of conduct in the South China Sea,” referring to a legally-binding
agreement it would like to forge with China to replace a 2002 nonaggression
accord that has failed to stop territorial conflicts.

China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Malaysia,
Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines have overlapping territorial claims across
the South China Sea, which Beijing claims in its entirety. Vietnam and the
Philippines, for instance, have been constantly playing cat-and-mouse with
China over the region in recent years, with diplomatic squabbles exploding over
gas and oil exploration and fishing rights.

A tense standoff last year between Chinese
and Filipino naval ships over the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal has remained
unsettled.

The Philippine vessels withdrew; but China
has adamantly declined from pulling out its three surveillance ships and removing
a rope stopping Filipino fishermen from venturing into a Scarborough lagoon.

The Philippines, early this year, protested
against China’s extensive territorial claims before an arbitration tribunal of
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in a bold legal action that
China has all but ignored. The tribunal is still hoping to appoint three more
of five arbiters by Thursday, then begin investigating the complaint whether it
has jurisdiction.

A pre-summit conference of ASEAN foreign
ministers in Brunei two weeks ago generally revolved around concerns over the
territorial disputes and concluded with a demand for an early completion of a
nonaggression pact with China, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario
stated.

Chinese officials, however, have not
specifically signified when they would decide to meet for discussions on the
proposed accord.

ASEAN unity has been endangered by the
territorial issue. Cambodia, an all of China, rejected moves to have the issue
inserted in a post-ministerial statement during last year’s summit. Vietnam and
the Philippines protested the snub and the ASEAN summit concluded without
issuing an after-conference communique, a first in the bloc’s 45-year
existence.

China has vigorously refused to bring the
issues to the international forum, opting to deal with each of its rivals on a
one-on-one basis. It has also warned U.S. not to intervene in the regional
disputes.

Founded in 1967 as a front against communism
in the Cold War era, ASEAN has often been caught in the crossfire of major
conflicts. As it is, the bloc walks an unsteady tightrope between a growing
China and a powerful America that is reasserting its status in Asia-Pacific.

The two giants wield tremendous influence
over the developing, small ASEAN nations, whose region has become a
battleground for political and security control and export markets as it
contains one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.

National Defense Forces from all of members
of ASEAN, together with eight other countries that include the United States
and China, will conduct, for the first time, three-day disaster preparedness
drills in Brunei come June to promote confidence among the multinational
troops, the draft summit statement also mentioned.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei’s media-shy
leader, has initiated the tedious ground-work to prevent any major fisaco in
the ASEAN summits his tiny but oil-rich kingdom is hosting this year.

Bolkiah has separately met with US President
Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prior to this week’s summit. Last
week, he flew to Manila, to discuss part of the summit agenda with Philippine
President Benigno Aquino III.

When his gleaming Royal Brunei Air plane
taxied to a red-carpet welcome in Manila, Philippine officials were surprised
to see Bolkiah, who also commands Brunei’s defense forces, at the pilot’s seat.